Another Analyst Report Has Good Predictions for Microsoft

We previously reported that research firm Ovum predicts that Windows Phone 7 will be one of the top three smartphone OS’s by 2016 and IDC put them at number two by 2015. Analyst firm Gartner has now released their research statistics on the smartphone marketshare. According to Gartner and as we should all expect Android will be the not only be the top worldwide smartphone OS by years end, they will command close to half of the worldwide market by the end of 2012.

Fear not my Windows Phone buddies. While Windows Phone 7 is the newest OS, Gartner predicts that it will have the second biggest marketshare  by 2015.

Gartner predicts that Nokia will push Windows Phone well into the mid-tier of its portfolio by the end of 2012, driving the platform to be the third largest in the worldwide ranking by 2013. Gartner has revised its forecast of Windows Phone’s market share upward, solely by virtue of Microsoft’s alliance with Nokia. Although this is an honorable performance it is considerably less than what Symbian had achieve in the past underlying the upward battle that Nokia has to face.

While coming second to Androids expected dominance, it is still a great feat. Windows Phone 7 is the newest OS of the bunch. It still has to overcome the stigma left behind by Windows Mobile. There is a lot of work to be done and if done swiftly and correctly who knows what their numbers will predict for 2016.

Table 1
Worldwide Mobile Communications Device Open OS Sales to End Users by OS (Thousands of Units)

Source: Gartner